D is for Delicate » Granny

Apple Brown Bessie

Danielle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:46:47 +0000

The best and worst thing about being home is that I’m surrounded by good food all the time. For example, today for lunch I had a wonderful salad with lots of spinach, baby greens, cherry tomatoes, and a sprinkling of almonds and goat cheese. I was feeling really proud of myself until my Nana walked in the back door with something hot, cinnamon-y, and wrapped in foil. It smelled so good, I knew I was going to eat way too much of it before I even tasted it. My grandmother calls this an apple cobbler. She got the recipe from Granny, who called it an apple pie. I’ve dubbed it Apple Brown Bessie, because my grandmother’s name is Bessie and it reminds me of Peggy Hill’s famous Apple Brown Peggy.

My hands are big, but not that big.

The apples, naturally, are small and green and knotty and came from Granny’s apple tree. She gave my parents one of that tree’s babies, and it’s growing quite nicely in their backyard.

What she lacks in the looks department she makes up for in personality and pizazz.

To make this, you’ll need:

1 C sugar
1 C self-rising flour
1 C milk
1 stick butter
2 and 1/2 C cooked, diced green apples
2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in the baking dish. Mix the vanilla and apples and pour into baking dish. Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and milk to form a dough. Spread dough mixture on top of apples. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until top is golden.

Mystery Solved: Bryophyllum crenatodaigremontianum!

Danielle — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:36:09 +0000

So, I was slightly wrong in my previous post about this mystery plant. My Nana pointed out that Granny actually referred to this as a teardrop plant (and not a tear plant), and upon googling teardrop plant I quickly found the information I was looking for.

this looks just like my teardrop plant to me

In my online research I’ve also seen it called mother of millions (or thousands), Mexican hat plant, and chandelier plant. The forums at gardenweb.com were especially helpful in pinpointing the exact plant that I have. They directed me to bryophyllum.com (which has some very informative pictures!), where I learned that my plant is called bryophyllum crenatodaigremontianum. It’s a cross between b.crenatum and b.daigremontianum. I’ve discovered that the mother of millions (the name I prefer, naturally) is a particularly invasive succulent that’s been known to grow on almost any available surface (including bare bricks and pine straw). Many people consider this plant a weed, and it should be kept out of reach of pets as it’s leaves and especially its flowers are toxic when eaten. Apparently, this plant won’t think twice about choking out another plant it happens to share soil with. Because of this, it’s wise to keep these away from other plants altogether. The rosettes on the leaves are indeed the baby plants, and they can fall into neighboring pots and take them over if you aren’t careful. Therefore, total isolation is recommended for the mother of millions. A windowsill by itself or a big pot on the porch both seem like good places to me. I have yet to see them, but according to both Granny and the internet the mother of millions produces pretty lavender flowers.

(photo: bryophyllum.com)

Mystery Plant: Tear Plant or Hen and Chicks?

Danielle — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:18:30 +0000

We had a lot of fun on vacation, but it’s really nice to be home. One of the first things I did (after bringing in my bags and kissing Chowder and Maxine) was go outside to see how my plants fared during my absence. I’m happy to report that my Nana took good care of them. One plant seems to have done especially well.

tear plant when first transplated on 6-11-10

During my visit with Granny (a neighbor, family-friend, and phenomenal gardener) a couple of weeks ago, she gave me this very visually interesting plant that she called a tear plant. She said that growing up she’d also heard it referred to as hen and chicks. Now, I’ve seen hen and chicks at greenhouses and they don’t look anything like the plant she gave me. And after googling tear plant I’m equally stumped–all I got was pictures of leaves dripping water that looked like tears.

tear plant today, 6-21-10

I transplanted the big plant she gave me pretty soon after I got it. At that point there were very few “babies,” but I transplanted the bigger ones to some old (not nearly as attractive as the one above) pots. You can’t really tell from the pictures, but the big one really grew while we were on vacation!

this is what i mean by "visually interesting"

Very few of the leaves had these on them when I left, but now they’re covered up. These things fall off sometimes, and from what I can tell they become the babies? I could be totally wrong about that.

babies that aren't quite big enough to transplant yet

I’ve already transplanted three or four of the larger babies that were pretty big when Granny first gave me the plant. These sprang up while I was on vacation. I’ll have to transplant them and find good homes for them, too. Any takers? Also, have any of you seen or heard of this plant called by any other names?

Mini Roses

Danielle — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:04:44 +0000

Call off the search party. I haven’t fallen into a well. I have, however, gone on vacation with my family, and it’s pretty rad. Despite the oil, we’re visiting the Alabama Gulf Coast. We’re not spending too much time on the beach for obvious reasons, but our hotel has a lazy river and several pools and a sauna, so we’re still spending plenty of time in the water (maybe even too much–my shoulders are pretty pink right now).

I love these sweet little mini roses.

I noticed a beautiful mini rose plant while visiting a neighbor recently. Her name is Grace, but my sister and I (and my mom when she was growing up) have always called her Granny, and she has the greenest thumb of anyone I’ve ever met. Eventually I plan on taking pictures of her yard because the sheer volume and variety of plants there is really unbelievable. Anyway, after visiting Granny I noticed these mini rose plants on sale for $1 each at Lowes, and I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d left them to languish on the half-off racks.

Of course it's my luck that these will probably be blooming while I'm out of town.

I think these would look so great in some big metal coffee cans with the labels peeled off, but since I’m staying with my parents and they buy their coffee in bags that idea will have to wait a bit. For the time being, I stuck these in a rectangular plastic planter I’ve spraypainted black. I have a few nicer containers I could use, but I really want to steer clear of anything too ornamental or showy since they are, well, roses and I think the plants themselves should be the main attraction.

Holy glare. Sometimes I don't know how to use my camera.

D is for Delicate » Granny

Apple Brown Bessie

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